


It's (not) Always Sunny in the Resistance

by DamnedBeret



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Insurgency Series, Senjou no Valkyria | Valkyria Chronicles, XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: A crossover episode gone out of control, Crack, F/M, Gen, Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Related to r/TalesFromTheSenate, absolutely crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 23:12:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18200288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DamnedBeret/pseuds/DamnedBeret
Summary: So XCOM is known out in the Outskirts as saviors of the galaxy. The knights in shiny armors who ride to the horizon to battle with the Elders' puppet ADVENT. The men and women who risk their lives frequently to protect them from the alien menace. In particular, Menace Squad is literally known for the squadmates' heroism, as their leader is The Commander themselves, and the second-in-command is Jane Kelly, a goddess among men and their lover.But ain't nobody got time for that."Alpha Squad: we solve our fucking atrocious problems with assault rifles and more morally dubious solutions."Taken from r/TalesFromTheSenate, and loosely related to TheSinnerInTheStars' The XCOM Anthology Set.





	1. The Obligatory Dramatis Personae Nobody Asked For

**_Alpha_** _**-1 Squad (often shortened or otherwise known as Alpha Squad, Alpha, the Unknown Squad, the D-Team, That Nameless Group of Retards, The Guys Who Hate the 141, The Actual Ablative Armor...):** _

_Alpha Squad is one of the active squads in the XCOM Resistance, specialized in infiltration, black ops, and assets retrieval. Led by Master Gunnery Sergeant William Dawson, this squad had its roots before the first official activation of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit._

_The core members were former American soldiers, previously fought in the War on Terror, with most other operatives were either advisors or insurgents in the same conflict (there are exceptions, of course). In particular, the core members were sent into Iraq and Afghanistan during the insurgencies, with the rest were either involved in the Syrian Civil War, or later joined after the Alien Invasion._

_Started with four members (William Dawson, Victor Crown, Josh Bailey, and James Wilson), they were recruited in Haven **█████**  in 2032, first as training advisors for the sub-standard rookies that somehow found their way to the Avenger. Their main priorities widened after Incident **█████,** which they showed their black ops skills thanks to field experience and a long list of contacts in the underground network. Soon after, they were crucial for establishing and preserving Resistance contact in previously hostile zones (for instance: Vietnam, Syria,...). The squad's inner schism began when James Wilson became increasingly aware of the organization's less-than-ideal practices including human experimentation, assassinations of sympathetic ADVENT officials, and the disregard of all civilian lives not critical to the Resistance efforts. This schism reached a breaking point when Alpha Squad knowingly abandoned refugees for the reclamation of crucial Intel. This led to the desertion and subsequent elimination of James Wilson by the hands of his former friend, William Dawson. Afterward, the squad was unofficially disbanded, until The Commander reformed it by sending Niels Beckers to the squad. Later on, Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiott were made into Alpha, and Dawson pulled some strings to get other members join in._

_During Operation **█████████  █████** , their relationship with Task Force 141, a mainly British SAS operatives became something similar to sitcom nemesis, in which two squads were responsible for the Pornocalypse, an incident where XCOM had to deliver porn to ADVENT for disrupting their activities and getting revenge of the Chosen Hunter for doing the same thing. While the two squads looked like each other's foils for onlookers, Alpha Squad is also a foil to Menace 1-5, the A-Team squad led by The Commander themselves. Menace is known to be the good side of XCOM, frequently saving the world from evil. Meanwhile, Alpha frequently makes deal with the same evil (and later eliminate them in the most practical way possible) to complete their objectives. Menace are formed by survivors, civilians and the head of XCOM, Alpha consists of mostly former soldiers. Menace takes the spotlight, Alpha stays in the shadows. Menace wins wars, Alpha gets rid of potential retaliations. And thanks to that, they are less known in XCOM themselves, as Menace and the 141 are the more prolific as their successes are well known (and the fact that one are led by The Commander, the other are SAS), while Alpha cleans up the mess they make. Still, this doesn't affect Alpha's effectiveness, as the squad leader fully embraced their role as the underground's and ADVENT's shadow boogeyman._

In other words, you're reading an amateur writer's story about a bunch of dickish people being dicks.

* * *

  _ **Ground Personnel:**_

  _ **The Original Operatives:**_

* * *

**MGySgt William "Buzzkill" Dawson (Alpha Actual, or Knife-1):**

_"We've hit the bottom of the barrel. We might as well go straight to hell."_

_(Crown's response: "I don't know boss. Hell doesn't seem depraved enough for us.")_

At first glance, he seems to be a generic Marine: always follow orders to a tee, resourceful, and a rifleman. However, at closer inspection, he is a Creator's Pet, Butt-Monkey and Jerk Sue in one body.

He was born in California, where his parents were unbelievably and hilariously abusive to him. His mother told him he was worthless right after she saw him, and 2 years later, left the house as her birthday gift to him. His father was physically abusive, often using him as a punching bag for anything remotely bad to his life. The CPS avoided his case, due to him not politically and economically advantageous enough for them to get more funding from the government, and so he solved his own problem by stabbing and killing his father at age 7.

It should be unsurprising that the foster camp he later attended were better than his old life. His time in the camp would also led to a chance meeting with James Wilson and a future operative with the callsign of "Cleric". The former two had an affinity to arts, with Wilson even wanting to be a game developers' art director, and they both wished to enroll an arts university later in their life. However, with nary a dime on their body, after finishing high school, they joined the US Marine Corps to later pay the bill for university. This led to them serving during the War on Terror, with Wilson leaving the Corps unharmed both physically and mentally, and Dawson (who either joined Force Recon, or Marine Raiders, or neither) continuing to fight until the collapse of the United States after The Invasion, as a broken man.

After 2015, all enlisted men were forced to meet up with the newly formed ADVENT, but Dawson escaped after seeing what actually awaits him if he followed his orders. He spent the next 12 years on the run, with infrequent visits back to his old home, then bastardized into a City Center and later turned into a Lost nest, due to a random Resistance group's sabotage efforts. He himself also witnessed the interference of the Elders had led to the derangement of the entire world, as Earth descended from a world ravaged by war and political infighting into a hentai JRPG world with multidimensional breaches, in addition to the aforementioned unsolved wars and political clusterfucks. Later on, he settled in a small remote Haven, where he later met up with some of his former comrades. One thing led to the other, he joined XCOM when duty called for him.

His personality can be summarized in two words:  _Practicality_  and  _Flexible_. He is often described as a hypocrite, usually shown when he advises his squad to avoid collateral damage, only to kill civilians in cold blood in order to complete his objective. He also has screwed morals, as he values his squad, friends and XCOM first, and damns everything else, but that doesn't explain him coldly murdered his best friend without a second thought. While he does feel guilty about his war crimes, it only lasts for a short time before he returns to normal. That being said, he is also a capable leader and strict in his orders. It is his influence that holds back other psychopathic squad members to not terrorize the entire population of Earth. In other words, he gets shit done. Outside of combat, he is also strict but understanding, with a side of deadpan, snark and self deprecation that basically summarizes Alpha Squad by now. He also tends to let loose of his orders for once, as he always tells Josh Bailey to stop smoking weed, but never punishes him for ignoring him. Of all things, he also values skills over loyalty, as he believes in building trust and personality after showing off your skills, but when his trainee is completely insufferable and doesn't have the personality to become a soldier, he is quickly to dump them to the sharks. This, however, is also additional evidence of his hypocrisy for outsiders.

Being a former Marine, he is a rifleman by trade, and he had received additional training as a breacher. As a squad leader, he also has a laser designator for pinpointing locations for fire support. In  _Long War 2_  terms, he's a Ranger Officer with some Assault abilities. In  _Valkyria Chronicles_  term, he's a Shocktrooper and Scout Officer hybrid. In  _Insurgency: Sandstorm_  terms, he's a Security Commander with additional access to Breacher loadout.

* * *

**SSgt Victor "Sapper" Crown (Alpha-2 or Knife-2):**

_"I'm still alive, you fuckin' amateurs!"_

_(Dawson's response: "Goddamnit, can you zip it, please?!")_

The second-in-command of Alpha Squad. One of the more honest member of Alpha Squad. That is not a good trait, to be honest.

His childhood life was similarly ridiculous, like Dawson, but with some twists. He was also a victim of child abuse, or more accurately, child abandonment. His parents seemed to not notice the existence of their children -- which includes Crown, his older brother Jason, and his younger sister Mary -- and focused more on cigarettes, cocaine, and being sloths. Later on, he had to rely on a priest to get his family (or at least, his relatives) out of poverty, which the church obliged. He became a devout Christian, and the literal incarnation of a pure Christian boy, who committed no sin in his life.

Until years later.

The priest that helped him back in the day was revealed to be a serial child rapist. He had claimed his brother Jason as a victim and kept him as a sex slave. When he confronted him about this, the priest in turn raped him, and taunted him about being crucial for his family. Luckily, the police later arrested the priest, and Crown realized that the rapist was true -- without him, his family was doomed. So he and his siblings had to enter a foster home, with each sibling resided in a different house, with low chances of actually calling each other. but it turned out that Crown's foster family was no better than his birth ones. His only help was a high school teacher that met him while she was coaching his adopted brother.She also helped Crown regularly, from his day-to-day life to his ambitions (he wanted to be a computer programmer), and slowly but surely, he became dependent on her.

And history repeated. She claimed custody of Crown, and using the most hentai-inspired move ever, tried to turn him into her sex slave, as she is a MILF and a pedophile. This time, however, CPS and the police became useless again, which led to her having fun with him for many years until he was eligible to join the Army. And so he did to escape her. Nobody actually knows what branch did he served, however, only he was present in Iraq, Afghanistan and later Syria, only that he fought alongside Dawson (Dawson commented that Crown is not a Marine) and Josh Bailey. One of the most common (and most outrageous) theory that he was a part of the CIA's Special Activities Division. What is known, however, that after The Invasion, he lived in a City Center before a corrupt and petty ADVENT official evicted him out and tried to arrest him, but he escaped to the Outskirts and coincidentally, into Dawson's haven.

He is described to be far from the boy free of sin he was known for, and in actuality, a stoic man who doesn't show his emotions at best, an apathetic soldier at most times and Hulk incarnate at worst. His blunt honestly, self deprecation and dark humor has become rather iconic (he once said: "You ask a Alpha member how do you look. If one guy replies: "Like a pedophile," then it's Dawson. Stoner will say: "Like shit, dude. Like an actual, stinking dung." Me? I'll say: "Ignoring the mentally retarded looks of a fucking lunatic asking  _us_  a straight answer, I'd say you look good." and then I'll kick you out." The squad then proceeded to meme the shit out of that quote.) In addition, like Dawson, he doesn't care much about the civilian populations (he also had dreams of killing his rapists and chalking their deaths as collateral damage, but he never tried this in real life, thank God), but he holds his fire due to his respect of his squad leader. He also holds his respect for a person who is not as messed up as him or Dawson and can kick ass without killing themselves at the same time. In fact, he used to hold Welkin and Alicia in high regards, until they spent 3/4 of their screentime screwing each other like pigs, then he became increasingly bitter towards the couple. He is also pretty competitive, as the moment he sees someone challenging him to do something, he will beat his opponent in any way possible, including but not limited to attempted assassinations.

In combat, he's a grenadier and combat hacker of the squad, usually opting to go for battle rifles with underbarrel grenade launchers instead of the usual assault rifles and separate M32A1s. In  _Long War 2_  terms, he's a Grenadier, rocket-specced Technical and Combat Hacker Specialist. In  _Valkyria Chronicles_  terms, he's an unholy fusion of a grenade-focused Engineer, a Lancer and a Shocktrooper. In  _Insurgency: Sandstorm_  terms, he's a Security Demolition and Advisor (the latter is due to his GREMLIN being an exotic equipment).

* * *

**LCpl Joshua "Stoner" Bailey (Alpha-3 or Knife-3):**

_"Alright, man, I'm down. Lemme thrush this bone really quick."_

_(Dawson's response: "Stoner, I said PUT THAT FUCKING THING DOWN!")_

At first glance, people would wonder how is this man a former Green Beret. Considering that he is an unholy fusion of a hippie and a soldier, they would be forgiven.

That doesn't excuse Stoner from being one of the more effective soldier in the Avenger. His skills learned in his time in Green Beret, and his skit of being a Delta Operator, Navy SEAL, 24th STS, 75th Ranger, with rumors of him serving in the French Foreign Legion, the SBS and Mista'arvim served him well as his role as a infiltrator and counter insurgency advisor. But even with those skills, he remains a chill and mellow guy with a strange sense of humor and actual conscience and morals in the original group (after Wilson), who never brags about his abilities, who would happily helps other operatives to be better, and tries to befriend them with weed as his mediator (with realistically varying results). He is also, befitting for a hippie, lazy and always found smoking like a chimney. In addition, Stoner seems to turn a blind eye from the squad's antics that involves multiple violations of the Geneva Convention (or any war crime conventions for that matter), but will not hesitate to chew them out privately, one by one. 

But that's Stoner. Joshua Bailey, however, is different.

As a kid, Josh Bailey was born into a loving family. His parents taught him, ever since he was a young boy who just started to go to kindergarten, the value of saying what you mean and meaning what you say, the importance of being a truthful man, and the importance of standing up for what you believe is right. Bailey never took those lessons to heart, and as a result, grew to become a person who always doubted people, and never trusted anyone, not even his family, not even himself. Every time his father and mother tried to be open with their son ended up with him clamming up even more, turning the once warmth feelings of their home into a broken and cold illusion. This made him into a person who never opened up to anyone, who never cared about anyone, who never spoke until necessary, who never had an ambition to become somebody else than a walking husk. So to him, joining the military becomes primary priority as he needed a job to keep him living.

During his military career, he was known to be the perfect soldier; the one who follow orders, kill without remorse, extremely resourceful and unflinchingly loyal, to the point where his superiors recommended him to Green Beret. However, he was still the lifeless corpse that he was known back in the day. It tells something that he didn't even care much about his parents being in coma due to a car accident, with uncertain chance of awaking. Even to this day, nobody knows about the fate of Bailey's family. As time goes on, the tales of Bailey's condition became clearer and freakier, and as usual, he didn't care. He wanted to serve, because he had no goal outside the army, and nothing would stop him about that.

Until he discovered weed.

And a lifeless corpse became filled with emotion. Somehow, a puff of weed made Josh Bailey felt something again. He became more sociable and opened up to people. He started to formed his own morals, and he started to remember his old lesson back when he was a child. As he remembered his past, his grief worsened as he regretted not caring about them when he could. Until one day, he realized that the weed was related to this, and he could forget all of this if he just stopped doing this. However, even when he had all rights to quit the weed, he didn't. Instead, he took most of the lesson from a long time ago to his heart, and he continued to smoke marijuana, as a reminder about the time he missed, and the hope of the future. Some might say that Stoner was, and still is, scared of Josh Bailey, and the reason that he kept smoking was to keep that man away from him. It also seems that only Crown, the first actual friend he made, is the one who knows of his condition.

However, what happened to him after The Invasion was unknown. There is no evidence of him living in the City Centers or in the Outskirts, he just appeared, one day, in Dawson's haven, and they reunited. Stoner doesn't want to share more information about it, including using psionic powers to pull it out from his brain.

In combat, Stoner is the squad's main scouting and infiltration specialist, who is always in front and behind enemy lines, and so he prefers a loadout that doesn't limit his fighting capability and movement at the same time. In  _Long War 2_  terms, he's a mix between Shinobi and Ranger. In  _Valkyria Chronicles_  term, he's mostly a Scout first with tiny Shocktrooper attributes. In  _Insurgency: Sandstorm_  terms, he's a silenced PDW or carbine-wielding Security Breacher.

* * *

_**The Newbies Personnel** _

* * *

**Pvt Neils "Nero" Beckers (Alpha-4 or Mirror-1):**

_"Hey, can you hold it, I'm in something right now."_

_(Stoner's response: "Uh... dude? You could just, um... put it in a fridge?")_

Nobody knows who this guy is. Most of his squad members would call him the xenophiliac of XCOM, for this reason: He gathers alien body parts to make trophies and necklace for reasons we do not understand, but can file it as mentally disturbed.

What is actually known about Niels Beckers is that he had a brief stint in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, a place where the law of physics do not apply, a place where precious artifacts and deadly anomalies that guard them can be found in everywhere, from the forests to the heart of the nuclear plant, which has the ultimate artifact that can grant wishes of your heart's desire. What is known is that he managed to make a name for himself. What is known is that the Reapers tried to recruit him but he denied. What is known is that he then traveled around the world for reasons unknown. What is known is that he was captured by ADVENT (instead of being executed right on the spot for most cases). What is known is that the survivalist showed his resourcefulness by making a makeshift armor and shiv when XCOM visited his prison to free Pratal Mox, which then he used his chances to grab a hitchhike to freedom. What is known that the Commander hired him right on the spot that day, since he let such an impression that most of the senior operatives would praise his skills. And what is confirmed that he would eventually become Alpha Squad's resident marksman.

Half of the aforementioned tales are actually unconfirmed, since Dawson's (and anyone's) contact in Ukraine haven't speak about it yet. In fact, a popular rumor is that he hallucinated all of his epic tales when he was high on whatever alien body parts he had, so take his stories with a grain of salt.

However, what is known about Beckers is that he is a bit aloof at times, sometimes forgetting that others are nearby (just like Dawson). He is also helpful during wild operations, as his experience with hostile fauna helps the squad avoiding certain doom (which he mostly uses his knowledge to help the junior squad leader of Alpha, Welkin Gunther). Outside of combat, Beckers is also an eccentric but ultimately kind and helpful person, which, while not rare in Alpha, is not the face of the squad. However, his hobby of chopping off alien body parts to make trinkets out of it overshadows his wish of learning more about the old world, as most of his life was spent around trying to survive the alien and human menace, alongside with his more positive personality traits. While he also shares a morbid and pessimistic sense of humor like most of the war veterans, he also hopes for a brighter future, because as he puts it: "Do we want to fight for an Earth that is actively trying to tear itself apart, or a one that builds monumental greatness out of our past wounds?" Most normal operatives, including his peers (with the main exception of Menace) see this as the final nail in the mentally insane and hypocritical coffin of Alpha Squad.

During field missions, he is a marksman, who is there as part of the squad to give long range support. Even though his role doesn't support his morbid hobby, he tends to make due with what he got. In  _Long War 2_  terms, he's a marksman-specced Sharpshooter. In  _Valkyria Chronicles_  term, he's a high mobility Sniper. In  _Insurgency: Sandstorm_  terms, he's a DMR-equipped Insurgent Marksman with a backup pistol.

* * *

**Cpl Welkin "Narnia" Gunther (Alpha-5 or Smoke-1):**

_"Maybe I fell in love with nature because it always put the smile back on his face."_

_(Crown's response: "Well, what the fuck, you actually have a death wish.")_

One of the hearts of Alpha Squad, and the usual fish-out-of-water of the squad, alongside with Alicia Melchiott. And the nature lunatic of XCOM. Supposedly, he is the third-in-command of the squad, even though that title means utterly jack shit.

He was born in a village in somewhere within the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium, codenamed "Buttfuck" by other senior squad members, but its real name is Bruhl. His father, an alleged veteran of The Invasion, alongside with his maid Martha, raised Welkin in the peaceful countryside. He had a great relationship with his father and surrogate mother. He usually took his son out to the wilderness and the river to study the creatures there, to sketch and to swim. Seeing his father actually happy and bright after losing his wife during the war and wondering why did he fight in the war seemed to be one of Welkin's main inspiration for his hobby. (Dawson suspected that either that forest was free of the horrors that awaits the unexpected, or he unconsciously blocked all the bad calls with nature's monstrosity in that area.) His father's death didn't affect his hobby, in fact, it moved him to continue, as he remembered that his father wanted him to follow his dreams, and not to be a military failure that he was (hyperbole included in this paraphrase) and he would love seeing his son following a dream he wanted too.

And that's it. Go figure.

Later on, one of his father's friend died, and Mr. Gunther adopted his daughter, Isara, as his own. She started off as an aloof and stoic person, but without the bitterness that defies Crown till this day. She commented that with her father being on the run from ADVENT, it meant that she was basically not allowed to make any memories, any friend, lest she got themselves killed. He reassured her that she is safe in Bruhl, and she is free to make new friends and families. She took his word to heart (the fact that Bruhl is conveniently not attacked by ADVENT or wandering bandits without aligning themselves with the Resistance for decades helps), and she had grown into the innocent, kind-hearted and determinant young engineer that Dawson and Crown doesn't like (and a part admires) and hates, respectively.

Welkin seems to be just as kind-hearted and caring as his adopted sister, who is always willing to lend an ear to the ones who needs it and always concerned about the squad's morale. This doesn't mean he is the squad's resident therapist -- that foul position has fallen to Alicia Melchiott. Also, his 'father-to-his-men' attitude has made him, along with his hobby of being a zoologist, a good potential squad leader. He is also confident in his own skills while being humble about it, noting that he is still inexperienced when compared to the current squad leader. His defining trait of being obsessed at natural studies is both his strength and weakness, as most of his strategies are based around the wilderness and its inhabitants, but sometimes he is just too curious for his own good. He sometimes forgets his duties (or the fact that he's inside an active combat area) to go and watch a butterfly or two, a fault that he's aware of but not wanting to fix it. His one-tracked mind is the reason why The Commander put Dawson in charge of him, as an experienced commander can help him grow out to be a genius.

Another thing to note his personality tends to lead to his actions being more humane than tactically advantageous. This means he is the humane voice to Dawson's pragmatism, making most of their combined plans being avoiding civilian casualties and achieving objectives quickly and stealthily. However, his thought process also heavily hampers Alpha's covert operations effectiveness, as most of those missions usually involve dealing and backstabbing criminals, civilians be damned. As of right now, Welkin (and Alicia) is being barred from all black ops, and only allowed to join light covert ops and patrol missions. There are concerns that he might find all the bad things his squad had done, resulting him and Alicia defecting, and the remains of the squad hunting and executing them, but as of right now, the fear is unfounded.

As for his relationship with Alicia, it is rather difficult to talk to without delving into the dark realm of hentai-inspired bullshit that Earth is slowly falling into. However, what can be said that before they joined XCOM, they met each other in Bruhl after a misunderstanding, befriended each other, and after a moderately long time, Alicia and Welkin found themselves loving each other, but both is too shy to actually tell each other about how they feel. But after Operation  **████████** , their relationship became official and physical, much to the chagrin of their squad members.

During combat, he is a regular rifleman, but he also has the radio frequency to call for fire support. In  _Long War 2_  terms, he's a vanilla Overwatch Ranger. In  _Valkyria Chronicles_  terms, he's a Scout Officer with a 21st century assault rifle and a radio for Dawson to call in help. In  _Insurgency: Sandstorm_  terms, he's a Security Observer.

* * *

**Pvt Alicia "Valkyrie" Melchiott (Alpha-6 or Smoke-2):**

_"He was lying there asking me for help, but... all I could do was watch him die."_

_(Dawson's response: "Welp, war is hell.")_

The other, equally large heart of Alpha Squad, alongside with Welkin Gunther. Also known as  _the mother figure that generally no one in Alpha wants_.

Not much is known about her past, aside from the fact that she grew up in an all-female orphanage convent, and she grew up caring for the younger girls who landed on her orphanage. Her affinity towards baking started when a traveling baker made a visit and baked a batch for them. She was so entranced with the delicious warmth of bread, and she wanted to bake the kind of bread that make everyone filled with happiness (this led to a predictable increase of LSD-related jokes in Alpha.) When she was 18, she worked in a local bakery with a master baker in Bruhl, and her bread was so delicious, every townsfolk knew her as the amicable poster girl of that bakery. And a reason why she usually wears the red bandanna is to remind her of her dream. Except Welkin. He was too busy chasing butterflies and ladybugs at that time. Still is, actually.

(In addition, nobody knows the fate of that orphanage, but one particular individual's personality had led to Crown joking about Elliot Rodger making a stop there.)

Even when the war between the Resistance and ADVENT became hotter, with the fallout being felt in Bruhl, she didn't quit her passion and joined the town watch to defend her new home. And a reason why she usually wears the red bandanna is to remind her of her dream.This led to the above misunderstanding incident with Welkin, and them leaving the town and joining XCOM. And them declaring love to another, which will not be further discussed in this Obligatory Dramatis Personae.

Alicia is reported to be smart, professional and an understanding soldier, which is one of the reason why she and Welkin met under a misunderstanding, which she then tried to make amends by the next day. Outside of that incident, she, like every other generic nice guy/girl, is friendly, kind-hearted, frequently encouraging her comrades in an AO, and in many cases, even helping her enemies when they needed it. She also became depressed at being helpless when the people around her are dying, which is another reason why she picked up first aid and emergency aid training, which led to her being the medic of the squad. Aside from that, she is the voice of reason and the down-to-earth mediator of Welkin's eccentricities. Being an orphan means that she was used to being alone, but Welkin stopped that line of thinking long ago, making her even values more about her squadmates around her. Dawson also told her that "If you and Welkin are in command, I'd think you'll be the mother to Welkin's father." (He later whispered to himself "God help us all if that happens," which may be closer than he would believe.) 

Compared to the hypocritical leader, the apathetic soldier, the stoned guy with double personalities, the xenophiliac, and her beloved nature lunatic, she's a saint to all of them.

However, it should be noted that she has mutated genes which allows her to heal quicker than normal human beings, with no downsides whatsoever. In addition, Tygan deduced that her body is hiding extraordinary abilities that may physically shown when she's sufficiently damaged.

In short, she's a Mary Sue.

In combat, she is the squad's medic, but she can diss out damage if she can. In  _Long War 2_  terms, she's the most powerful Ranger-Medic Specialist ever existed. In  _Valkyria Chronicles_  terms, she's  _Alicia Melchiott_  with additional Medic Engineer skills and XCOM's lategame tech. In  _Insurgency: Sandstorm_  terms, she's a Security Advisor that can  _passively regenerates health_.

* * *

**PFC A█████████ "Mercenary" T████████ (Alpha-7 or Mirror-2):**

_"Сука, гавно, домой в гробу полетишь, блять!" (Bitch, you shit, you will fly home in a fucking coffin!)_

_(Alicia's response: "Please, hold still, let me see your wounds!")_

One of the _new meat_ of Alpha. The Slavic former mercenary who fought in Syria, and now squadmates of his former enemies turn friends. And yes, he can fluently speak English.

Nothing much is known about Mercenary's history, but it starts in the Soviet Union (years before its collapse) and ends in Syria. Some says that he was a part of the Chechen Islamist fighters who took part in the Second Chechen War. The failure of claiming the holy land for themselves had caused a great deal of anger for the surviving insurgency, and so supposedly, he travelled to the Middle East, where another holy war awaited him. According to rumors, he offered himself to ISIS as a hired gun, but after The Invasion, and the subsequent routing of the Islamic State, he somehow became disillusioned with the extremist version of Islam he worshipped. He quitted ISIS, repented himself, became an atheist and volunteered himself for XCOM. Alternatively, he was a Spetsnaz fighting against those insurgents before the aliens came. To survive a brave new world where he is hunted for his former allegiance and the rumors around him, he had to sell his skill for supplies. But one rainy day, he decided that enough was enough, he had enough of selling his soul for another day of wandering. So he found his true calling, and tried to actually improve his life by joining the Resistance. He neither confirms or denies either explanation. He only expands on those theories that: "It's much less glamorous than you'd imagine."

What is also known is that he travelled with five other survivors, all of them former Syrian Civil War combatants. Those 6 people had connections with the original members of Alpha, and after pulling some strings (and showing High Command their skills in war has never dull,) they are part of XCOM, with two of them working in Alpha. Their leader, callsign "Spec Op," called how they met as "incredibly awkward, considering that we used to shoot each others." Mercenary decided to open on that, recalling that "both sides were ready to kill each other again, until ADVENT came. Amateurs, their shots went wide, and we retaliated. In the end, we decided not to shoot each other because of... I don't know, it's not honor, it's just didn't feel right then." 

One of his defining traits is his rather heavy accent, especially when he gets exited, on which he will speak in unintelligible Russian. Which is rather common, considering that he's also a really fun-loving guy. He has rather sane sense of humor (by Alpha standards), with extrovert personality, and a really crazy party person. His high Slavic alcohol tolerance may or may not help. He's also known to be a pervert, whose private hiding place and stash is supposed to be in the women's bathroom vents (even though maintenance personnel had reported no such thing in that particular area.) On a more serious note, he seems to be the half-honest, half-white-lie person, and he has some artistic interests, such as photography, writing, acting and directing movies, but since there's no movie studios that exist in the Outskirts, his hobby is limited to directing propaganda posters, something that he doesn't hesitate on voicing his distaste. 

As for his relationship with others, his view of Alpha ranges from _favorable_ to _lacking_. However, what should be noted that he shares a brotherly bond with a new operative named L **███** "Militia" S **██████** ,another Syria Civil War veteran. He turned himself into a surrogate brother after her actual brother was killed by ADVENT. They however refused to include more detail on this, as they stated it involves their private information.

He is the gunner of the squad, a position Crown used to hold. In _Long War 2_ terms, he is a SAW Gunner with a few suppression-boosting ability. In _Valkyria Chronicles_ terms, he's a Shocktrooper-Sniper hybrid, or a Scout with the Ruhm. In _Insurgency: Sandstorm_ terms, he's a Insurgent Gunner. 

* * *

**Pvt L███ "Militia" S██████ (Alpha-8 or Mirror-3):**

_"I will fucking_ murder _you!"_

_(Welkin's response: "W-wait, it wasn't my fault! I was trying to catch a chameleon! Please!")_

The other new meat of Alpha, and are jokingly known as the feminist of the squad, even though she is actually much more mature than most people with that title. More accurately, she's the blood knight of the squad. She takes that title disturbingly more calmly than most people.

Born as the older sister of a Syrian Kurd family with heavy military traditions and national pride, she dreamed of being a soldier, even with the disapproval of her family. However, she was known to be stubborn, and so she devised ways to enlist. In a Mulan-inspired move, she enlisted into the YPG as a man when ISIS and similar insurgencies attacked her homeland. The ruse failed, but she was accepted anyway, and received training alongside her male peers. She was offered to join the YPJ, but refused, as she felt like she could do more in the thick of the battlefield. This will form one of her main personalities, her wish to be with the thick and thin of a conflict, in both open combat or in covert operations.

Her first taste of combat was in the Seige of Kobanî, where she first met one of the Peshmerga delegates and one American special forces operator from the CJTF-OIR delegates, which would later blossomed into friendship years later. Her superiors reported that she was a exemplary soldier, willing to follow orders to a tee, and sometimes ignoring orders from her less-than-stellar officers to save her comrades or civilians. In the grand scheme of things, however, she is also a liability, considering her hot-headedness also caused unnecessary damage to the operation. To Militia, however, it didn't matter, as she did her duty, defeated ISIS and saved the civilians.

Then The Invasion happened, the Rojava government collapsed, she lost her job, along with her comrades, and she could not contact her family. She became wanted because of her former employment, and she had to escape into Europe in order to survive. What happened next was unknown, as she didn't want to explain more, but most can only assume that she found her family killed, trained her marksmanship more, reunited with her friends and 3 other former insurgents, and settled in a haven somewhere before being called by Dawson. It is still unknown what drove her and her group to join XCOM, but some guessed that they got blackmailed into joining, which would be plausible, given Alpha's original members' modus operandi. However, as of currently, she seems to be enjoying her stay in the Avenger.

As stated above, her stubbornness and determination are some of her defining traits. Other personalities and ticks that separates her from Alicia's more feminine qualities is her usual potty mouth (par the course of her squad, actually), and her brass and carefree attitude. She usually seems to be a more upbeat and more sensible version of Crown, but she does care about her squadmates, although none can determine whether her caring side is either real or a front to her hot-headedness, especially in combat, where she constantly switches between asking about other's wellbeing and taunting hostiles until her voice cracks. Mercenary can't answer that, as he is also confused about her actual  personality and can only comment "blame the fucking author." In addition, her determination and hot-headedness also means she will disobey orders if that means crossing her personal objectives. Surprisingly, Dawson has been lenient with her, citing that "she didn't actually compromise the mission, she still gave results, and Welkin would defect if I say no." That being said, he has also said that "there are still visible lines. She just haven't reached hers yet."

In the field, she is another rifleman of the squad, but she can be another marksman if the mission requires. In _Long War 2_ terms, she is a Ranger with limited Sharpshooter capabilities. In _Valkyria Chronicles_ terms, she's a Scout who can switch into a Sniper if needed. In _Insurgency: Sandstorm_ terms, she is a Security Rifleman, with limited access to the Marksman's loadout.

* * *

_**Base Personnel** _

* * *

**SrA M██████ "Cleric" T█████████:**

_"Okay, we've killed like half the country by now!"_

_(Dawson's response: "And I hope you have more ammo for another half!")_

Melissa "Firebrand" Gaskarth is a gifted pilot of the Skyranger, XCOM's iconic aircraft, which is rated to carry at most 20 operatives, not including herself. However, when being aboard of the Skyranger, it is noted that disliking Ozzy Osbourne and/or The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galazy is grounds for immediate ejection. In addition, the Skyranger is a troop transport, first and foremost, with no self defense capabilities until much later in the war. Her relationship with Lily Shen is also considered to be _distracting_ at best. This means there are rooms for a more stable, yet similarly competent pilot who flies something that can shoot back and still be capable of ferrying troops to and from the AOs. Additionally, another spot is left for a gunship to support the ground troops, as ADVENT's air force is rather lacking, without the alien's aid.

Luckily, Cleric filled those spots easily.

His story began when he was an orphan, who had to wander around for years in the streets of America. He noted that those days were one of the darkest of his life, considering that it "felt more or less like a zombie apocalypse." One day, he ended up in an orphanage, and later a foster camp, where he would met James Wilson and William Dawson. Fortunately for him, he was later adopted by a retired US airman, and unlike Dawson, didn't have a abusive adopted family. The adoption was his inspiration to be an airman, just like his father, and when he was eligible to be enlisted, he jumped the gun and desired to join the 54th Helicopter Squadron, just like his father.

He failed his training 3 times. Even though he was determined, it was only a matter of time until he broke. However, when his adopted father saw his son walking into their shared home ashamed, he whispered to him a tip that kept the old man moving, even though he failed even harder than Cleric was: _Stand up, pick your things, and keep moving forward_. This generic advise, somehow, managed to kick Cleric back up, and he promised that he would still continue to finally be a pilot. This advise then formed his determination trait.

Surprisingly, defying the face of realism, he managed to not only passed, but even with flying colors. He was not assigned to the 54th, however, as the situation in the Middle East became more and more problematic, he was assigned to one of the coalition's Fire Support Team. As a Blackhawk pilot, he witnessed many of his fellow soldiers fell in battle by forces he could not control. He then started to pick up one of his combat trait: he began to constantly warn anyone in the ground the estimated location, number, and armaments of insurgents, which significantly increased the survivability of ground soldiers, and he earned the respects of those who survived. This would continue until he joined the CJTF-OIR at the same day the aliens invaded. His efforts saved many fighters in the Middle East, but it was only so much he could do until the inevitable came.

Nobody knew who shot his Blackhawk. Some said a double agent, or a zealous insurgent shot it down. Others claimed it was due to an UFO. Nevertheless, even though he survived, he returned to his home as a vassal of the new alien overlords. So he did a thing that seemed reasonable without risking his life: change his alias and live a normal life. But with his neighbors periodically missing and never return, the constant forceful moving from places to places, and the increasing amount of propaganda and surveillance being shoved down onto everyone's throat, he just could not continue to live like that. Thankfully, Nineteen Eighty Four taught him a lot about how authoritarian government works, and defying the rules of realism again, he successfully escaped the City Centers without being shoved into Room 101.

Later on, reports of a working attack helicopter came from West Europe, and XCOM tried to investigate. It turned out to be a big coincidence for Alpha, as ADVENT (after having enough of the Elders' pettiness and general stupidity) had finally tracked down the heli and attempted to ground it permanently. After a regular patrol mission turned into an urgent reinforcement request, the Avenger picked up a new mechanic. Cleric was happy for his new life and actual life, but after a long time, he became a bit restless. He was jealous at Firebrand, as she was the only pilot of the then only aircraft of XCOM, until words came in that Menace managed to capture an aircraft of unknown origin (some said that it wasn't Menace that acquired the aircraft -- it was either a decommissioned ADVENT VTOL that the Black Market sold for a handful of supplies, or a local Mary Sue took the aircraft away without being flayed into pieces by the security measures, or you should stop listening to the rumors and continue reading), and Cleric was invited to advice on the reengineering and restructuring of the new VTOL. Months later, Senior Airman Cleric had finally found his new sweetheart -- The Razorback-A1.

The Razorback is an agile and armored gunship first, and an airborne transport second. It's primary purpose is to provide heavy air support to ground personnel by anti-tank missiles against armored targets, its main AP-HE chain gun for mass infantry and light vehicles, or its side-mounted miniguns for more accurate suppression and elimination. In addition, it is rated to transport 10 fully kitted soldiers, not including the pilot. Its main downsides, however, are the slower speed, the halved troop capacity, and the lack of stealth capabilities of the Skyranger, plus the guerrilla tactics of XCOM heavily limits its practical uses. This means that Firebrand and the Skyranger is still the poster child and most used aircraft in XCOM's arsenal, although the Razorback does see it's uses from time to time. This also only depends the Cleric-Firebrand rivalry, with only Firebrand herself being oblivious to it (or not, depending on ElizabethOlsenIsMySpiritAnimal, also known as TheSinnerOnTheStar.)

As for Cleric himself, he's the idealized version of Dawson without his iconic hypocrisy: he's loyal, kind, relaxing, sociable, a party animal, and overall fun to be around. While doing air support missions, he will not hesitate to call out friendly units the whereabouts of hostiles, and warns them about wounded teammates or their incoming dooms. He's the kind of friend that will never leave you behind, without leaving a mountain of corpses of both the guilty and innocent. In addition, he's quick to criticize other and even quicker to leave his advice to improve, although this trait of him earns more ire than admiration, since the ego of men is only smaller than Sauron's and just as big as the Elders'. His competitive nature has also raises some questions about his sanity, as he is known to hold a silent grudge and challenge for a long time. There are also rumors of Cleric suffering from an acute case of PTSD, as he himself had witnessed the death of many men and women back in his air force days, and he is more likely to see more under XCOM's employment. Sadly, even today, nobody has the definitive cure for that ailment, and Dawson is always worried that just simply being there for his friend is not enough. Whispers of him screaming bloody murder, yelling into and beating his bed and the Razorback is becoming more and more common, but thankfully, they have not reached the man's ears yet, but some are fearful of the consequences. 

As of right now, he is working with the only Fire Support Team in XCOM, led by operatives A **████**  "Station" C **█████** and W **█████** "Outpost" E **█████**.

* * *

**Engineer Isara Gunther:**

_"Your squad is like my family. I don't want... none of you can die."_

_(Crown's response: "Boss, this is Sapper. Yeah, we're gonna need 8 coffins for this op.")_

The absolutely unneeded (and underaged) heart of... I don't know, there's way too many pure and lovable characters to mock at for my taste, and so I'm just gonna say she's The Heart Number 3. Of what, you figure it out. 

Born into a prosecuted family (for most likely religious reasons), Isara never knew of her mother (most likely lynched just weeks after Isara's birthday, or turned into human DNA juices for the Avatar Project by now), and she was used to being sneered at for being a child of a such hated family. Her stigma carried to where she lived, and one day, an accident involving (most likely) humans being more animalistic than the aliens led to her father being gravely wounded. Within his last hours, the man had to endure the pain and focused his entirely of his remaining life on securing his daughter's future. So he crawled his way to the only friend he had left: Belgen Gunther.

And thus, she became Isara Gunther, living under the lovely household of the Gunthers, and under the protection of Mr. Gunther. Of course, Welkin, his father and the maid had no problem with her, and she in turn greeted them warmly. However, as old memories faded and new memories were made, the most she knew of her biological father was by an old picture, and his mechanical brilliance. In fact, it's arguable that her gifted engineering skills are both inherited from her father and from Welkin's encouragements. He in fact gifted Isara her first wrench, which will become her most beloved tool in her toolkit, and seemed to be the catalyst for her future career. Later on, as she heard the tales of her brother joining XCOM, she couldn't help but to immediately track the last whereabouts of the Avenger, and requested a transfer to XCOM's mobile HQ the moment she had a capable radio. A few weeks later, XCOM (hesitantly) welcomes the new engineer.

She has a calm, kind, gentle, and compassionate soul, who rarely expresses her feelings bluntly and is always optimistic about things, as her motto is to always look towards the free future. Even when the realities of war slowly sinks into her, as she sees less and less people returning from op, she still has the support from the Engineering Ring and most of Alpha (even from Dawson, who personally sees her compassionate personality as grating to him. Crown is a different story.) Isara, unlike urban legends, is not an introvert, she just like the peace and tranquility that she maintains around her. With inconsiderate people, or people who has given up on life, her patience will sap away and she will show a surprisingly and relatively strict side of her. When pushed enough, she, like most people, will snap and say directly into whoever's pushing her about what she actually thinks about them, and when she's done, she will revert to normal. Additionally, her stubbornness about righting her discrimination is also a negative trait to some religious operatives around her.

She is currently working on Project Edelweiss, a not-so-top secret R&D project that currently involves increasing armored vehicles capabilities of the Avenger, XCOM and the Resistance in general.


	2. The Original Pre-Retcon First Chapter

_Alpha Squad_ is one of the most consistently competent team of XCOM Ground Forces, and had skills in infiltration and open combat, but their sanity level has constantly changed, due to The Commander's oversight and the members' uniqueness. Their popularity is also much more diminished thanks to Menace Squad and Jane Kelly's existence, but the squad leader had commented that he doesn't mind about the lack of limelights in his work, and also grateful about it because ADVENT is less likely to send in the big guns towards them.

Due to Operation Autistic Night, Alpha Squad is often at odds with Task Force 141, a mainly former British SAS soldiers because of their part in what is known as the _Pornocalypse_. This rivalry later turns the Squad and the Task Force into sitcom-esque archnenemis, and both squad leaders have no comments on the subject. 

 _ **Gunnery Sergeant William Dawson:**_ Callsign _Buzzkill_ , and the Squad Leader of Alpha Squad, he was an US Marine, and a Middle East veteran, alongside with Corporal Stoner, and the time between Operation Iraqi Freedom and the occupation of Earth has made his optimism eroded into cynicism, pragmatism, hypocrisy, barely contained anger issues, and in many cases, self-loathing, due to being hit by PTSD. The sanest and the only rational person in Alpha Squad (and once a candidate for XCOM Sanest), but he can't do anything but to rant about shenanigans caused by his team. Competent, capable and highly flexible in making tactics, he dragged his squad out of the gutter multiple times, with resounding success, varying degrees of flesh wounds and extremely colorful languages. Being a former US Marine, he's a rifleman by trade, and he also had training as a breacher.

It is said that he is also a prime candidate for Marine Raider or Force Recon Marine, but this is currently unconfirmed, as Dawson rejects all attempts of further investigation, with or without psionic.

* * *

 

_**8:30 pm...** _

"Daddy, daddy!"

"What the hell do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

_**On a Monday...** _

"I want to ask you a question."

"No, go away."

_**Los Angeles, CA...** _

"Please, Dad, can you just help me with this?"

"Get out of here, you little brat!"

In a random house in the suburban area near LA, a young boy was trying to pry his dad out of the TV. The father was also trying to get him out of the living room, because he was watching a boxing match, and he didn't want anything to block the damn TV.

The boy tried many ways to get him ask his question, but all was met by absolute failure. He might subconsciously knew that it would never worked, but he marched on anyways. He tried pulling him of the sofa, but he just sat there, unmoving. He tried to move his beer bottle, but he was met with a slap. Then, he had a brilliant idea: turn off the TV. However, once he grabbed the TV, hell broke loose.

"What the fuck are you doing with that?! Give it back!"

The father left the sofa, alright, but now he was extremely angry. So angry, in fact, he immediately punch the young boy in the face. Aside from giving him a concussion, he was knocked into the bookcase, which also nearly fell down, and some books also hit his head.

"You little fucking punk!"

The father grabbed the boy's leg, and threw him again, this time, into the kitchen. He nearly fainted by the pain, and he cried, like a kid he was.

He was scared.

He was scared of him.

He was scared of more punishments like this.

Day after day, week after week, month after month. Ever since mom left to buy milk, his dad had been beating him for the most insignificant mistakes he made, and even when he did exactly what he was asked for, he still beat him for no reasons at all.

"You know what?" The father asked. "I've given up on you. That's the last fucking straw, after all I've done to you, you still keep being the little slut's boy, huh? Well I have a surprise for you! You can meet your mom in hell!"

He saw his father went away to grab a familiar object. 

And at that moment, the kid was truly afraid.

And at that fateful night, Willy learnt a big lesson.

Lesson that will carry on till the end of his life.

* * *

_**[Dawson's Bizarre Adventure: Morally Grey is Unbreakable](http://alexanderlozada.com/iasip/?RGF3c29uJ3MgQml6YXJyZSBBZHZlbnR1cmU6IE1vcmFsbHkgR3JleSBpcyBVbmJyZWFrYWJsZQ==) ** _

_**It's (not) Always Sunny in the Resistance** _

_Starring:_ Michael Tsarouhas as _William Dawson._

* * *

**_San Diego MCRD, CA, 2007..._ **

"Hey there, Will! What're you doin'?"

"Sup, James."

It was hard to see that the new Marine recruits had a lot of potential.

Well, it was really hard to see it, because all recruitment were the same. It always started with a bunch of innocent kids, most were either smartasses, dumbasses, somewhere in between, sociopaths, psychopaths, illusioned young boys, the likes that the US Marine Corps had seen every year, every month, every week, every day.

And today was no different. The two young kids that were talking to each other, William Dawson and James Wilson, known as the EndSon Brothers back in high school, were all the type of boys that joined the Army for the only reason of getting free college studies. In particular, Will wanted to be an artist, and James wanted to be a game designer. Both had families that, while supported their career decision (at least one of them did), didn't have enough money to financially support them. Therefore, they tried out the tried-and-true way to avoid the cash payment: joining the military.

And to say that they were having a blast was an _over_ statement. In fact, they haven't met each other since months, until the rare moments where the drill sergeants weren't there for some reasons.

The two men, ignoring their surroundings, hugged each other, then performed one of the weirdest and longest hi-five routine they had done since they were kids. After that, Dawson smiled and replied.

"Just cleaning the latrine, James. Jesus, you don't wanna know what they ate last night that made the shit stinks. Seriously..."

"But why you're here, Will? You got into trouble again?"

"Yup. Sneezed in front of the DS. I got sent here after being smoked as punishment."

"Well, poor you." Wilson laughed. "Try not to make any noise next time, or the Drill Sergeant's gonna stuff his boot so far up your ass, you'd be eating with a straw."

"Can't make any promise, man."

"Just try to, bro. That's all I asked."

"Yeah, yeah." Dawson made the _fuck off_ gesture to his friend. Then they looked at another DS roasting a different unit.

They couldn't act pity on them, because they were going through the same hell as the greenhorns, and damn if some of them desperately needed another year in the boot camp if they wanted to get into the field. At that moment, Dawson looked at a fellow recruit.

"Oh hell." Dawson muttered, seeing and pitying the poor offending recruit being humiliated in front of his platoon and battle buddy because he coughed in front of the DS. Yes, making any noise in front of the person making hell out of your life is a bad idea.

Who could've fucking knew.

"That one's gotta hurt." Wilson whispered to his friend, while looking at the poor recruit getting a feet up his butt while giving the DS 20 pushups. He guessed that the guy might had depression by the end of the boot camp.

"Hey, Will, you ever wonder why the drill sergeant were all that angry? All the screaming and yelling at anyone, trying to scare off recruits just to make them do stuff?" Wilson looked at Dawson and asked him. After a few second, he got a reply.

"Nah, man. I don't. Not anymore."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I mean, we got what we signed up for, right? We just got graduated from high school, now we gotta get through hell, then go to another hell, and kill some Iraqi Gandalfs, give the finger to Jihadist Saurons by superior American firepower, go home in one piece, and get money for more school. But to do that, you have to be a true Marine. You have to march miles, carrying pounds of ammo and guns, you have to fire effectively, you have to do what an Army soldier do and more to get in the Marine, to be capable to fight. Until you are a true Marine, the DS will keep yelling at you."

"You sound like you actually know how they think."

"Yeah, I guess I actually know how they act. Just give me a DS hat and I'll start smoking some rookies."

They shared a laugh. It lasted a few second before things became quiet again.

"Seriously, though," Dawson leaded the conversation again. "I personally believe that just talking to the DS and sharing their experiences aren't just it."

"What?"

"Understanding why they did it, I mean. Yeah, you could hear why they smoked us till sundown and all that, and you could think that you'll do the same when you're in their shoes, but believe me, man, to actually _truly_ understand them..." His tone became much more harsher.

"...you have to do-"

"RECRUITS!"

"Oh shit!"

* * *

 

"Come back here, you little shit!"

Willy ran. He ran hard, to escape the angering demon right behind him, to escape with his life.

He didn't understand why. Not just because why his father was screaming and running with a bat in his hand, but why, since his mom left, he was always beating him at the slightest mistakes he made. Why he was always slapping, throwing, and hurting him. Back when his family was still around, he had his mother shouting at him to shoo him away, but now...

His father threw the bat at him. He quickly dodged the stick.

"Stand still, you motherfucker!"

He kept running.

He just kept running around the house. He knew, by experience, that going back to his room wouldn't help him, because his dad broke the door the last time he hit him. He could try to climb onto the roof, but the last time he did it, he sat there for hours, and when he returned, his dad was waiting for him, and in a bad way.

He could try going into the lawn, but then again, his father would just overpower him.

And in this situation, messing up means death.

He could feel the pure anger and hatred from the man chasing him, and his father would actually beat him until he never wakes up again.

And then he fell.

He fell into the kitchen. He couldn't move anymore, he couldn't stand up again, since his father pinned him down.

"Got you, little bitch." The dad growled. "Got any last words, you brat?" And the man raised the bat. 

His mind raced. He looked around, trying to find a way to break free of the grip.

"Course you don't, you're too fucking retarded for that shit."

The abuser was preparing for the final blow. 

Then he saw a black handle.

He grabbed it, revealing a rusted kitchen knife, and without any hesitation...

...the blade met flesh.

...

...

...

And time stopped.

...

...

...

The father's face twisted into pain, surprise and a part regret, as he clutched where his wound at. He dropped the bat, and tried to hold his pouring blood, and he was slowly losing consciousness, as his vision was being blacked out.

"You... piece of shit..."

Will stood up, and without any thinking, he stabbed him again,

And again.

And again.

And again...

So this was why he hit him...

Again.

Again.

Again...

Why he was always been beaten to an inch of his life.

Stab.

Stab.

Stab...

Why he was always violent.

Stab...

Stab...

Stab!

It felt good...

Stab!

Stab!

STAB!

It felt good to finally stop the beating.

It felt good to finally stop the pain.

It felt good to finally stab his father!

STAB!

STAB!!

STAB!!!

* * *

**(cue** [**Exodus Blues - Metro Exodus OST**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqb5sZirZlg) **in the background)**

**_The Avenger, 2035..._ **

It was ironic that the organization he worked with is called the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. Seriously, it is.

He understood why he isn't going to shoot the Skirmishers in the foreseeable future, because they are ADVENT deserters, and the enemy of his enemy is his (temporary) friends. He knew desertion very well, and the Skirmishers he met were always nice to talk and just hang out with. In fact, Pratal Mox had been one of his drinking buddy ever since that Reaper recently rescued him from the ADVENT prison.

But when they needed to recruit actual aliens to defeat aliens, he would like to see a line clearly drawn before XCOM turned into the _Terrestrial_ Combat Unit.

Well, to be fair, the friendly aliens he met were actually friendly, and also fun to hang out. The fact that there were about a dozen of them, give or take, helped. And none of them were as annoying as Stoner on weed withdrawal. And most of them were, dare he say it, human-like, as all of them had understandable goals, personalities and backstories, and it was nice to hear about the culture of the other non-hostile races. Expect the big ones.

And the fact that a human was keeping them in check helped, and said human could be best described, within a sentence, as a Mary Sue incarnate _IN SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

It was still a fucking wonder why XCOM haven't won the war yet.

"Hey Dawson." A voice came from behind his seat. "What're you doing?"

"Drinking my ass off, Vakarian, what the hell do you think I'm doing?" Despite the hostile tone he used, they all knew it was used for jest.

Garrus Vakarian was one of the alien individuals that he respected, if not being an outright friend. Yes, he still had reservations about the alien sniper, but damn if he didn't find him to be a crack shot and a great person to have a few drinks with. It was people like him that made him enjoy the few operations where Alpha had to work with the Normandy Crew. However, it was the company he kept (and a part in) also made him reluctant to do another joint operation with the Normandy Crew.

The alien sniper sat next to him, and Dawson looked at him. "You want a drink?" He asked.

"Spirits, no. I'd die of allergy if I drink yours."

"Oh yeah, you're made of different acid than ours." He sighed. "Figures."

The two kept their mouth shut, as Garrus ordered a dextro drink. The silent between the operatives held for about a few seconds, before Garrus asked.

"Seriously, Dawson. Why're you drinking? I never thought you were the one to knock yourself up after a Covert Op."

"Well, you're wrong. After a war, you tend to keep a pretty face to your family and the outside world while hiding a bar worth of booze under the table."

"You mean the human's so-called War on Terror? Why didn't you ask for your family's help?"

"Would I like to trust the people that immediately judged me as a baby killer after I left the Marines? Would I like to trust a group of people that advocated for peace while they had never fired a gun or met an insurgent in their entire life? Your species had mandatory conscription, so everyone knew what they had faced, but not us, and definitely not the 21st century naive Americans."

Once again, the former Marine sighed, and hit his head on the table.

"Sorry, I got carried away. I just... I just solved my revenge mission, and now I felt like shit."

If he could read the alien correctly, Garrus was surprised at this. "Wait, what?"

"Last Covert Op. You've ever felt a need for revenge before?"

"Yeah, I did. A while ago, I, along with a few like-minded people, were vigilantes in a despot of crime and lawlessness. We were living legends, an actual light in that dark place and all, but one of my close friends betrayed me to all of the mercenary groups there. I was the only survivor, and I swore that I will put a bullet to the one wronged me, and I'm still trying to find that bastard till this day. With the help of Commander Shepard, and now The Commander, the chance of finding him is better than a few months before."

"Well, good for you then. To be honest, I could never find them by myself, and I always gladly took any help I could get..." He stopped to think something. "Sorry, getting offtrack again."

"You've been through many vengeance odysseys before, so what's your experience on them?"

Another sigh.

"Not glamorous as you expected. Back in 2014, Iraq, there was this crazy jihadist that went full mental on us. He was smart, knowing our patrol and squad patterns to effectively ambushed us. Well armed, well trained, and survived multiple airstrikes, the fucker made fools outta us. The army tried to sent in a few Spec Ops to get the guy, but somehow, they requested a few grunts to help in the mission. That's how I met Stoner, and that was the day I got a personal target."

He drank his own drink, and thanks for the silent nudge of the alien sniper, he continued the story.

"The jihadist got us by the balls, and only a few of us survived. I lost a lot of good friends there, but our guy fucked up. Later, I volunteered a mission to finally end the guy for good. And at that time, I figured, well, since he fucked me up, I decided to fuck him up even worse. And when we got him..." He sighed. Again. Yes, he was uncharacteristically sighing now. 

"I understood why he fought against us."

* * *
    
    
      "اللعنة عليك أيها الكلاب الإمبريالية! أنت سخيف حصلت لي ..."
    

Finally. He got the bastard.

After so many people died to him, they finally got their hands on him. Thankfully, the guy was too arrogant for his own good and still wounded, so he couldn't mount an effective defense on them. That, and a shitless snitch helped.

"Finish the job, Americans. Make me a martyr..." The jihadist, half-delirious, sneered at him. He was tempted to grant him his wish. But no, killing him would only make the pain wash away. And as he was a legend in the insurgent community, killing him would only raise others, some more bloodthirsty than him.

"No we won't. That would be a waste of our time." Dawson coldly replied. "Instead, I have a little surprise for you." He then switched to his radio, and called the help outside. "Bring in the prisoners."

There was silence on the other side.

"I said, bring in the prisoners."

 _"...affirmative."_ Wilson's voice came out. _"Civvies coming in."_

The door opened, and it revealed a young woman, possibly in her late twenties, a 5-year-old boy, being shoved into the room by gunpoint, and that Green Beret attache, who, also like Wilson, was reluctant on doing this.
    
    
      "الآب؟"  
    
    
    
    
      "عبد! عبد ساعدنا!"
    

"Okay. I'll take it from here. You guys leave the place, I'll catch up with you."

"..."

"I alone will take responsibility. Just leave."

Wordlessly, the GB nodded, and left the room. He guessed that Wilson also left with him, too.

The guy clued in what he was about to do, and his demeanor, from angry and defiant, broke immediately into surprise and absolute fear.

"Wait, what are you doing? Why are they here?"

"Well, your son helped us finding you, and we decided to let him see his daddy. He seemed to miss you so much. How many times had you hanged out with your wife and kid, huh?"

Even though a normal man would have burst into anger and lashed out at the kid, the jihadist knew it wasn't the boy's fault. It never was, it never will. Allah wills it. The boy was always innocent on his eyes. It's all the American's fault!

Alas, he couldn't kill him, for he was at the mercy of the American soldier in his home.

"I never pinned you as a family man, considering how many families you torn apart." Dawson, with his cold tone, kept mocking the target. "Oh, how 'bout those civvies you killed in those IEDs? Have you ever stopped to think about their mothers and sisters, waiting for their sons and brothers coming back?"

"The US Military would never allow the death of civilians. They condemn it. This is real life, soldier, and not a video game where you can walk away from innocent blood on your hands!"

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, pal. We're all war criminal here in this fucking desert, but it ain't a war crime on top of countless war crimes if none can see it."

The target was trying to calm his family, but it was all interrupted when he found himself staring at a gun barrel.
    
    
      "لا! ماذا تفعل؟! تجنيبنا نحن ، ولم نفعل أي شيء لك!"
    

The woman and child screamed on top of their lungs, which the Marine found it really fucking annoying. He then raised the M9 at the jihadist's wife and children.

"And it just so happens that there were two witnesses here."

And he pulled the trigger. Twice.

And there were sounds of two body dropped into the floor, still having a few life left on them before they died.

"No! NO! You bastard-"

And the jihadist then found out that his knees exploded into a mist of blood, fat, muscles and bones.

"And that," Dawson reloaded his sidearm. "Is for my men. Enjoy your life."

No, he wasn't going to kill the man. He would left him bleeding and crying, unable to do anything now except for watching his family rot and scream his throat out. That was for his brothers.

He left the cripple crying, unable to move due to his legs being ruined.

And as he walked out of the building, something came in.

In a twisted way, he found happiness from all of this. That cunt had been a gigantic pain in the ass for so long now, with his IEDs killing more US and Coalition soldiers than fucking gunshots. So yes, he found it relaxing to basically executed an innocent mother and her kid in front of the jihadist, who may or may not later recover and swear revenge, and repeat the circle. But he didn't care at this point. 

He got the jihadist, and finally the US Army would be traveling safer routes.

He was happy about this.

...but...

He finally knew why the jihadist ambushed them.

_thud_

_thud_

_thud_

What the fuck had he done?!

_thud_

_thud_

_thud_

He just killed civilians.

_thud_

_thud_

_...thud_

Civilians that wanted nothing from this. Civilians that were fine seeing their father and husband on their farms, not blowing up American patrols.

_...thud_

_thud_

_thud_

Civilians that should not be pulled into this.

_...thud_

_...thud_

_...thud_

In fact, he let his rage got over him. He thought that teaching the fucker a lesson would shut him down for good, but at what cost?

_...thud_

_...thud..._

_..._

Would he do it to another civilian?

Would he do it to another American?

Would he do it to a friend?

...

...

...

More importantly, how far is he going to do when this happens again?

* * *

**_Somewhere in Europe, present day..._ **

Really, he would never expected to do diplomatic missions of all things when he's with XCOM.

And after having witnessed a string of events that could be best described as _something more likely to come out from a smut fanfic_ and _something that is just out of this dimension_ , he was expected to talk to the leader of the group, because Welkin and Alicia made such a stunning first impressions about Alpha Squad specifically and XCOM in general.

Well, at least it didn't involve both of them fucking each other's brains out in public. He hopes so.

The AAR doesn't say anything about it.

"Exalt Emmeryn," He says to the blonde girl in front of him. The girl is literally radiating kindness and compassion, which does nothing but to set his paranoia meter off the charts. Nothing in this place is as kind and caring as her, and he's sure as hell that outside her shell, she's nothing but a ruthless dictator and a potential crime queen inside. "If you wanted to be a part of the Resistance, we'll have to rearrange a few resources to train your troops, if you have any, or to bolster your defenses with our soldiers if you don't have necessary protection, and raise your technology level to our standards. We'll also send in a XCOM Advisor to oversee this change. Occasionally, the Avenger will have to make a landing near your place. Can you arrange that?" On the inside, he hopes that she won't use the help to build her own empire and turn this place into another Iraq and Afghanistan.

Seeing her alone makes his hand instinctively reach for his sidearm to kill her and then off himself. Hey, being paranoid is a part of his job!

...but being suicidal is not. Apparently, his recent suicidal tendencies comes from all the shit he witnessed last night and just a few hours before this.

"Yes, I thank you for helping us, Gunnery Sergeant Dawson. After seeing what we were lacking, in terms of... advancements, the council is thankful for your generosity. We won't be here if not for you and for organization."

"I'm just happy to help, ma'am." He tries to look happy, but given that Emmeryn is the actual avatar of kindness and goodness, he can't help but to look jumpy and suspicious. Apparently, she sees through his expression, and in an attempt to calm him down, she gives him a pleasant smile (that does nothing but to make his spine shivers).

"In return, I would like to send our militia, the Shepherds, under your care, Mr. Dawson. They are known in my land as the just protectors of the people, and I hope they can be of use to you. With your help, I am certain that they will be useful to your quest, and they will learn necessary skills to protect Ylisse from aggressors."

"...do you even have spare soldiers left for defense?"

Another radiant smile appears on her face. "You need not worry about it. Our Pegasus Knights can deal with it."

This just complicates problems. He's fine with the regular recruits XCOM usually gets, because while they can't hit the broad side of the barn, they at least can suppress targets effectively, throw grenades with unprecedented accuracy and always eager for connecting flanking shots, and in the cases they do survive, they become veterans with astounding ease. But as far as the report goes, the militia she got was led by a man who had a (literal) pointy unbreakable sword of destiny, but that doesn't mean jack shit if he can't fire a rifle. Hell, last time he checked. that group also had underage kids, for fuck's sake.

In addition to this, XCOM and the Resistance now have to spare even more bodies for proper protection against ADVENT raids, because, believe it or not, he doesn't trust her statement about Pegasus Knights being good against anything on this overglorified planter. So he mentally pencil in for asking Central to at least make sure that this place won't be reduced to rubble the moment a drunken ADVENT officer stumbles upon this fucking place, killing any defenders in the process and making XCOM's next Retaliation Op more painful than it needlessly should be. 

Maybe R&D should start making AA guns for them. For irony's sake, of course.

And speaking about near-worthless bodies, he also read the report about the Shepherds, but most just point out that they were as idealistic as they can get, because they are the people with the wish to make the world a better place, and they have the determination, blessing from the local Cthulhu church and Cthulhu itself, and alleged skills to back that up. And hopefully, if they even managed to get into the Avenger, they might be folded into a different squad. Lord knows he has to micromanage literally anything remotely related to Alpha Squad, as it seriously is slowly affecting his mental health (to the point where he often wonders how he might bites the dust: his head explodes due to a lucky shot or by overloading his brain), and the last thing he needs is overenthusiastic, tactically inept, idealistic rookies with non-existant aiming skills in his own group of crazies. 

However, that's not all, oh no sir. In his line of work, most idealists end up leaving XCOM, because they can't be bothered to look the other way when the organization did some morally gray actions, and end up revolting and leaving the Avenger. Yes, needlessly cruel acts of terror is frowned upon by HIGHCOM (that is, if Central hasn't keelhaul the poor offender and/or jams the head of the offender up the Avenger's antenna already) and XCOM actively avoid such actions if the other methods lead to the same outcome, but when they have to sacrifice a thousand for billions of life, they will gladly take it. But some just don't get the memo. A few gutless souls even created rebel forces against the Resistance, and although the irony was thick, it certainly wasn't thick enough to prevent total collapse of many rebel groups against XCOM.

You can not use darkness against the masters of darkness themselves.

For example, one that he personally toppled off.

* * *

"Wake up, Boss. I want you to see what you have done."

The man in question woke up in a dirty room, with just enough electricity to power the only lightbulb in the room and the TV in front of him, and saw himself tied into a chair. He also saw a man with him, but he wasn't being tied up like him.

"Funny, I'm surprised you called yourself Boss after you left. That made it really hard for us to track you down, huh?"

It was painful to just look at the freed man, and when he actually saw the torturer, he was surprised by this development.

"Will?!" He croaked out, with one-fourth shocked, one-fourth scared, and two-fourths absolute anger and contempt. This was the moment he knew that XCOM loved poetic justice, or whatever the hell they called intentional irony this day. 

"Wilson." The XCOM operative coldly reported. "Fancy seeing your ass here."

"Why're you here, Will?!"

"HIGHCOM send their regards."

"And what the fuck you want from me?!"

"I don't know," He shrugged while walking in front of the TV. "Thought you knew already, after, well, you _deserted_."

"I did it for a good reason, Will, and your bloodlust only-"

"You wanted to be a fucking hero, that's your only fucking credible reason. That's why you never got guts to do what's necessary, Wilson, and that's why you left us."

"No, I left because XCOM wasn't there to protect the civilians! How many camps had been wiped out because it wasn't in the protection racket? How many desperate men, women and children were left for dead when they begged on the Avenger's ramp? How many innocent civilians had been executed for allegedly being Faceless? XCOM doesn't give a damn about them, so I left!" He violently shook his restraints, trying to break free. "You should've known! You were my best friend, but you chose to look away..."

"I looked away for a good reason, pal. And what the hell had you done then? Associate yourself with terrorists, cutthroats, and bandits in order to liberate the masses from the only force that can kick ADVENT for good?"

"Oh yeah, what about the terrorists and the power hungry crowds on your side, huh? XCOM can destroy ADVENT and the aliens, but what would you do then? Keeping the power and keep oppressing the lower classes?" He struggled to free himself while spitting spite into his former best friend. "I wouldn't trade one ADVENT for another! That's why I fucking left!"

"You wanted to stroke your moral ego, that's why you left. And speaking about being in the higher moral grounds, you wanna know how many people suffered because of your insurgency?"

He sneered again. Dawson intentionally killed civilians before, and now he blamed him for genocide?!

"At least I tried to minimize casualty, not leaving it to the wolves!"

"No. _Your group_ raided hundreds and thousands camps, Resistance or otherwise, killing civilians left and right, and taking all their food and resources. Your group attacked civvies in City Centers just to make us look bad! I'd reckon you don't even have control over the insurgency you have, 'cause for all intents and purposes, it looks like EXALT's been giving your troops orders!"

"Bullshit! We only attacked XCOM and XCOM only! We would never-"

"Who's giving you reports?"

And at this point, his rant stopped.

"What the fuck does this relate to anything?!"

"Who the hell gave you those reports? Who's your left hand man? Is he called Frank Reynolds? That goblin fucker's been using your naivete to get his own supplies for his own and escorting drugs to other regions. He also used your insurgency to terrorize the population 'cause it gave him a boner! He's been lying to you, pal, since you were never on the ground with your troops! He stroked your moral ego boner so you can sleep soundly, thinking that you defeated XCOM over and over again, while the only thing your rebels did was to kill non-combatants!"

"...what?"

"You didn't notice?"

"Everything, everything they reported to me that they fought against XCOM-allied Resistance group and won, and that's all! There's no talk about dead civvies! None, cause we aren't monsters like you."

From the sound of it, it looked like Wilson was also trying to convince himself that, again, he and his group were morally blameless. Or whatever, since he was bad at reading people. 

"Still fucking blind, I see." It was time for Dawson to taunt him. "Well fuck me, that's probably why your attempted coup failed, 'cause the goblin's been loud enough for us to catch him. Hell, the guy's generous enough to give us this!"

The ex-XCOM operative's eyes widen when he saw a familiar book.

"Your membership book. Surprised to see it?" He slapped the insurgent with the book. "Of course you did, Reynolds sold this and your position for our protection. The people you chose to associate, huh?"

"Fuck you." Wilson whispered, knowing what would happened next.

"And thanks to this, we grouped up your little rebellion to a secluded place for us to... well, weed out." Dawson sighed, then keyed someone on the radio. "Firebrand, you there?"

_"Yup, I'm here, what's up?"_

"Our little turncoat wanna say hello."

_"Then give him a good punch for me, please, especially in the nuts. Now, if you don't mind, I'm firing some rockets at a random shelter. See ya."_

The XCOM operative turned on the TV and let the captive watch the screen. "We also set up some cameras to watch the fireworks." Wilson recognized the building in the screen. It was his HQ. And everyone was in there.

He realized what was going to happen.

"Your little insurgency doomed them all. Remember that."

Without another word, the building exploded into pieces from the volley of rockets, and he heard the sounds of a familiar VTOL passing the skies like a jet. He could heard the sounds of concrete hitting the ground, and sounds of people screaming and groaning for help. He even saw a man lost his entire arm and leg thanks to the fly-by. He kept his eyes glued into the TV.

Surprisingly, despite the opportune time to keep the act, the XCOM operative looked much more sad than angry.

"I'm sorry, Wilson." Dawson sounded weirdly sorrow and apologetic, after his bout of gloating and taunting, but still having enough rage and contempt to made it moot. "But you knew it would end this way."

Wilson kept quiet.

"Your friends, dead."

He felt a tear forming in his eyes.

"The world on fire."

He started weeping.

"And you... alone."

And wordlessly, he felt something on his head.

"Finally, something we have in common."

And the body became limb.

...

...

...

As his rage subsided, as his brain processed the fact that he just killed his best friend first and the deserter second, something changed.

...

...

...

His hands shook.

...

...

...

He dropped the gun...

...

...

...

He now understood.

...

...

...

And Dawson joined the weeping.

His friend, dead.

His world lost.

Him, a terrorist.

Him, a killer.

Him, a cutthroat.

And a fellow failure.

...

...

...

He was no saint, he knew it already.

He was no demon, although he might as well be one.

He was just a damned man.

A failure.

* * *

So XCOM is giving up coil weaponry and manpower to some displaced locals for idealistic rookies. And some food. And some gold, he guesses, so at least this isn't a charity.

Ish.

It's just a horrifically bad deal that will be the final nail of the pentagon-shaped Resistance-issued coffin.

Let's hope that he won't have to do _that_ again.

"You have a deal." He shakes his hand with the Exalt, who gives another comforting smile again.

"Thank you, William." Her genuine happiness at the deal genuinely horrifies him. It also doesn't help that she's, again, the avatar of kindness and compassion.

He also has a gut feeling that she's about to hug him, so he decides that it's high time for him to _get the fuck out_ immediately.

* * *

In his line of work, in order to truly understand why the other side did something, you have to do something worse than that.

And after many years, he doesn't want to truly understand anything anymore, lest more innocent blood fell on his hands.


End file.
